Feature

When most musical acts release a “Greatest Hits,” it usually means they have already faded from the limelight or are trying to cash in on the remnants of their fame. This is not the case with Keller Williams. Williams’ handpicked, retrospective release serves more as a celebration of his career, which is far from completion.

After years of performing as a solo act, Williams has taken on a full band called the WMD’s with bassist Keith Moseley (String Cheese Incident), guitarist Gibb Droll (Marc Broussard) and drummer Jeff Sipe (Aquarium Rescue Unit/Susan Tedeschi). When I caught up with Williams, he was recuperating at his home in Virginia after touring Japan.

SC: So, you just got in from Japan. How was that experience?

KW: I love going over there. They’re super, super patient and very polite, and they definitely hone in on the music and give me energy at the right times unlike America where people are just kinda there to party and carrying on conversations in front of the stage, which is not a bad thing. It’s something I’ve grown quite accustomed to, and it kinda eases any kind of tension as an artist to play such a loose thing in America. Then, you go to Japan, and everyone’s honing in on the music and totally dialed in and studying and listening to the point that there’s no one talking in the bar at all even the bartenders. It’s quite surreal. It’s a very interesting energy over there. I enjoyed it; I enjoyed it very much.

SC: Well, you only have a few days to recuperate from that tour before heading out in the States. How are you spending your free time?

KW: It’s fall here in Virginia, and I’m just loving being outside. I’m total opposite when it comes to summer and fall. In the summertime in Virginia, if I’m outside, I have to be in the water. In the fall and the spring, I can go outside just to be outside to hike and walk. I live on a lot of land, so there’s lots of exploring to do in the wilderness out here. You know, I’m going out on this tour with a band, so I’m playing a lot of electric guitar. So, I’ve been spending a lot of time getting my guitar rig together, which has been a lot of fun and expensive. Being an acoustic guy, this is a new concept with the whole electric rig. It’s really, really fun to start studying electric guitar tones and trying to figure out exactly what I want.

SC: You’re reading my mind and bringing me to my next line of questions. After being a solo act for so many years, what made you decide to take on a full band?

KW: Probably from performing as a solo act for so many years (laughing). It’s something that I always wanted to do from the get-go but have never really felt like I could afford it. Then, when I could afford it, I didn’t really feel like I needed to fix something that wasn’t broken. So, now it’s like all these musicians that I loved so much and wanted to work with, the timing in their lives and careers have all come to a point where it’s feasible. They’ve all always had their own thing going and working with different bands, and I’ve never been able to gather a group like this without some kind of schedule conflicting. This time, it’s really coming together and working.

SC: You have an all-star line-up with the WMD’s. What was the recruitment process like? Were these guys friends of yours or people you had your eye on?

KW: I’ve known all of them some more than others. With Jeff Sipe, I was a fan for many, many years before I met him. I always wanted to work with him back in the days of Aquarium Rescue Unit. We’ve kept in touch over the past 10 years and never really hung out. With Gibb Droll, we were definitely friends, and I’ve always considered him a rock star and loved to work with him. Then, there’s Keith Moseley, who I’ve been very close with through the String Cheese Incident for about a decade or so, and we became good friends.

SC: You mentioned switching over from acoustic to electric guitar. What other kind of challenges are you facing playing with a full band?

KW: I think the main thing is the actual rehearsal time and actual preparation, which isn’t really there. Everyone is available to do this tour but not necessarily an amazing amount of time to rehearse. So, I think the obstacles as far as taking on a band is the material. As a solo act, I can play four, maybe five, shows all two sets each and not repeat anything. Whereas a band, we’ll probably be pulling from the same 35 songs. We’ll probably be playing some of the same stuff every night, not necessarily in the same order, but playing just to get it tight and just that there’s not a whole lot more to choose from. So, I think the biggest obstacle for me is feeling comfortable with the material, but I think that’ll come with as many gigs as we do.

SC: Your next album “12” is set for release Dec. 18, and it’s being called a “hitless greatest hits.” Could you elaborate on that for me?

KW: Sure.This album, like my other albums, is done in the most self-indulgent ideas. I’m definitely putting these out as my favorite songs off of each record that I’ve done all put together. Listening to it takes me back. Each song is like a little file that opens up ideas on how a particular project went. With the lack of independent stores and CD shops and things, now that they’re going away, all my CD shopping as far as stores gets done at Best Buy and places like that. I’m going through these records and I see these people’s greatest hits, and sometimes they don’t have any of the back catalogs, but they do have the greatest hits. These places often usually don’t have my titles at all, so I’m thinking that if I put out a retrospect, maybe I can get my records carried in some of these stores. It’s many different, alternative ways of thinking. The main reason I put it out was to hear a compilation of my life’s work.

SC: Tell me a little about “Keller’s Cellar.”

KW: That’s a narrated self-indulgent, hour-long mix tape. I think that it’s on 20 different stations, but I don’t have proof of that. I’m up to 111 episodes now of the radio show. Each one gets sent out to I think about 20 different stations in different parts of the country, and supposedly they get played.

SC: Are the WMD’s going to be a permanent fixture, or will you go back to the solo thing?

KW: I think the solo thing will always be my day job. I think I will always take offers and be able to fly out for gigs and do weekend runs. I think that’ll always be there. Whether it will be a permanent fixture or not is pretty much up to the musicians in the band. Everyone’s got their own thing going and got their own ideas, and this is kinda my project. I can’t expect these geniuses to really stick around. I know that I have them for three tours that we have up until April or the middle of March of next year and nothing after that. I can only hope that this first tour goes well enough to where we’ll be able to put a couple in line for next year. I think the solo thing will always be there, and this band will be there to play for as long as I can get them to.

Stephen Centanni is Lagniappe music editor. Contact him at scentanni@lagniappemobile.com.

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